JAN 17 — Part of me fears that if I write another article about Krishnan and Sargunan, about Shamil Hafiz Shafie, Mohd Khairul Nizam Tuah and Hanafi Omar, or about Chia Buang Hing, I will not only sound like a broken record, but might begin to lose what little sanity I have left. I hope, nonetheless, you’ll click on the links though.
Permit me very briefly to use this space for a much less noble exploration, and indulge in some tech speculation.
We’re fresh off a number of cool announcements at and around the Consumer Electronics Show 2011 held in Las Vegas (which I understand was held in the same place and about the same time as the Adult Video News annual convention. I feel I probably shouldn’t elaborate on how nice it would have been to visit Las Vegas that time of year).
My interest lies primarily in computers and mobile devices, the latter of which seems to continue developing at an exciting pace.
As usual, given that software development in other platforms is lagging too far behind to pique any interest, I like to focus on the competition between Android and Apple devices (avoiding, of course, all the boredom that comes with being excessively objective or neutral).
iPhone? iZzzz
I note with interest that on the Apple end of things, the only thing to generate major interest was the announcement that Verizon in the US was now going to carry the iPhone4.
This was deemed significant because prior to this, Americans who wanted an iPhone could only get one through AT&T, deemed to have a considerably lousier network than Verizon.
The more enthusiastic Apple evangelists even heralded this event as the end of Android, stating that the only reason anyone got an Android was so that the wouldn’t have to deal with AT&T’s crappy network.
Even Malaysian iPhone enthusiasts seemed excited about this — probably because next to a white iPhone (yawn), this seemed to be the most exciting news there was out there (nevermind that this new iPhone4 was CDMA and not GSM-based, thus inoperable in Malaysia).
How lamentable that iPhone fans would be reduced to getting excited about such inane, barely relevant developments; having hordes of screaming fans lining up to get the exact same phone... except... in... white... seems, alas, just a little sad.
Android strides
Here my fellow Android enthusiasts differ, in that there is always something new and exciting just over the horizon.
From glassless 3D screens to Playstation phones, somebody is always pushing the limits of Android-enabled technology, without having to wait under Steve Jobs’ “benevolent” dictatorship.
In this article, I’d like to explore one device and feature in particular.
The phone in question is the Motorola Atrix 4G, one of a handful of dual-core Android handphones announced in the last month or so.
The dual-core processor is quite a feat in and of itself — we are talking here about handphones that pack a processing punch that probably outperforms many desktops still being used daily here in Malaysia.
What was to me by far the most exciting development about this phone, however, was the inclusion of a laptop dock.
Redefining mobile computing
Said dock looks exactly like a netbook — keyboard, monitor and all. What it does not have, is an actual computer inside — an empty shell as it were.
So how does this magic work? You simply dock your Atrix 4g smartphone into the back of the laptop, and voila! The Atrix 4g now serves as a computer that brings the laptop to life. Your phone is now singlehandedly powering a complete computing experience.
Along with this physical accessory, Motorola has designed what they call a Webtop interface.
When you plug the Atrix 4g into the laptop — or into another docking accessory that allows it to easily hook up to a large screen HDTV, keyboard and mouse — the phone switches to a Webtop interface, which allows you access to all the phone’s features, on top of a desktop-optimised interface.
This Webtop interface has a full fledged Firefox browser, file managers, and so on — giving it the feel of a real computer.
One heart, many bodies
I find that this represents exciting, real innovation, and a step in the right direction.
As more computing power gets packed into smaller and smaller devices, why should we bother to carry more and more gadgets?
The Atrix 4g represents the first step towards an approach wherein your phone is like a heart that can power a multitude of machines, depending on your needs.
This road could conceivably end in a scenario where you take one little phone sized device with you everywhere you go, and plug it in — as necessary — into desktop-sized interfaces, laptops, tablets, or whatever suits your fancy. One heart, many bodies.
I’m delighted that the open source spirit of Android continues to inspire and enable such developments. I look forward to all sorts of massive innovations long before Steve rolls out the probably-by-then-obsolete iPhone5.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.